9 Email Metrics Every Insurance Agent Needs To Be Tracking

If you follow our BlocTalk content you've probably seen a lot of information about using email marketing and how to optimize it for your insurance agency (you can see all the blog posts here). This is one of the most popular topics of discussion amongst our BlocTalk community. Insurance agents are interested in this topic for a number of reasons, but I believe the main reason is that they are attempting to make the transition from traditional marketing to online marketing and email is a huge part of that.

Online marketing is a game of numbers and that is especially true with email marketing. This is something that those of you coming from traditional marketing may have a harder time with because traditional marketing is not as data-driven; it's more of a "go with your gut" type of approach simply because there aren't ways to measure results (i.e. what was the open rate or engagement level of your last direct mail campaign?). With email marketing, there is a way to measure everything. Below I will discuss 9 email metrics that you need to track, what they are, why they're important, and how to track them.

Ready to geek out on some metrics? Let's dig in!

Open Rate:

What it is:

You can look all over and find different definitions for email open rate but let’s just stick with the basics.

opened emails/sent emails = open rate.

Why it matters:

By tracking your email open rate, you can:

Find out what content your audience is most and least interested in.

Make sure you’re engaging your audience with valuable emails.

Be sure you’re a trusted resource.

Adjust your subject lines to increase opens.

And so much more!

How to track it:

This is a simple calculation that should be shown to you in your email service provider or agency management system. Check out the example below of a graph inside AgencyBloc displaying the open rate over a given time period:

Click Rate:

What it is:

Click rate is a standard metric that simply calculates the percentage of unique clicks your emails receive per emails sent.

# of unique clicks/# of emails sent = click rate

Why it matters:

Click rate is the ultimate gauge of engagement. You can have high open rates but if no one is clicking the links in your emails then they aren’t following your calls-to-action and you’re simply wasting their time (assuming that your emails call for recipients to click on links).

How to track it:

This is another very standard metrics that almost any email service provider or agency management system is going to report back for you. Understanding your overall click rate across all emails sends is important and may need some extra manipulation outside of your software of choice. Note: it’s also important to understand which links people are clicking on. Check with your email service provider or agency management system to find out if tracking URL’s is possible.

List Size:

What it is:

List size is the number of email recipients who are successfully receiving your emails. This does not include bounced emails. Think of it as the number of emails delivered rather than the number of emails sent.

Why it matters:

A growing list is a good sign and means that your marketing efforts are working and people are taking notice of your content. If your list size starts to decline you can find out exactly when it starts to decline if you’re tracking your list size every time you do a mass send. This will help you pinpoint any changes that could have resulted in a declining list size.

How to track it:

In your email service provider or agency management system this should be a standard number that is given to you. Below is an example from AgencyBloc of the difference between Emails Sent and Delivered:

Subject line length:

What it is:

This is the number of characters in your subject lines.

Why it matters:

This may seem like a weird metric to track, but it can certainly have an impact on open rate and even click rate. There are all kinds of studies and research about the impact of subject line length on open rate & click rate. The best way to understand the impact of your subject line length is to track your emails and compare the results - see below:

How to track it:

This might not be a standard metric that is given to you by default in your email service provider, but it can be easily tracked. Simply create a spreadsheet and list all of your email subject lines in one column (you should be able to easily retrieve a list of your past email sends and their subject lines). Then, in a column right next to that type the following function: =LEN(text). For “text” choose the cell with the subject line content in it. When you combine this data with open rates and click rates you can see which subject lines resulted in the highest open and click rates. Track it over time to see trends but don’t be afraid to try different lengthed subject lines from time to time.

Day of the week:

What it is:

This is simply which day of the week you sent your emails.

Why it matters:

When tracking this metric over time you will find out which days result in the best results for your audience. As your audience (list) grows you may find that this changes so it’s important to continue tracking it even after finding out your best day.

How to track it:

As with subject line, this is data that you should be able to pull from your email service provider or agency management system and compile into a spreadsheet. You’ll want to list all of your email sends by day of the week and include open and click rate. You can then get the average open rate & click rate for each day of the week using a simple function: =AVG(text). See an example of this to the right.

Time of day:

What it is:

This is simply the time of the day that you sent your emails.

Why it matters:

Like day of the week, time of day is important to track in order to optimize your email sends. Your audience is unique and has different things going on at different times of the day. Don’t assume you know when the best part of the day is to send to your audience - do some simple calculations and find out. This will increase your engagement with your audience.

How to track it:

This may be a little bit trickier to track but as long as you can get the data it’s not hard at all. Assuming you can gather the exact time that you sent your mass emails you’ll just include them in your spreadsheet next to the subject line, day of week, open rate, click rate, etc. Now, once you have each email listed in your spreadsheet sort it by open rate. Look at your top 5 or top 10 emails based on open rate. You’ll see in the example to the right that the ideal time to send to this list is 2:01 PM in order to get the best open rate.

Bounce Rate:

What it is:

Bounce rate is the percent of emails you sent that bounced. A bounce is when a sent email cannot be delivered to the recipients inbox. Note: there are many different kinds of bounces, but hard bounces are what you need to be on the lookout for.

# of bounces/# of emails sent = bounce rate

Why it matters:

Keeping your bounce rate low and consistent is an important part of list hygiene. If you see your bounce rate climbing it could mean a number of things including bad data, old emails, etc. Most email service providers and agency management systems will have acceptable bounce rate thresholds.

How to track it:

Your email service provider or agency management system will have a threshold for an acceptable bounce rate. Make sure you know what the acceptable rate is to prevent getting your account locked or turned off.

Opt-outs (unsubscribes):

What it is:

Opt-outs = the number of people who unsubscribe from your list per email send.

Why it matters:

A spike in opt-outs is a good indicator that the email you sent was not in line with what your audience wants to receive from you or you are sending too many emails.

How to track it:

This is another metric that you should be able to gather from email service provider or agency management system. You can either track the actual number of opt-outs or the percentage (# of opt-outs/# of emails sent).

Spam Rate:

What it is:

Spam rate is simply the percentage of people who mark your email as spam from the list you sent to. Sometimes email service providers will automatically mark your email as spam before it even reaches the inbox so it’s important to know how to get your emails delivered.

# of spam complaints/# of emails sent = spam rate

Why it matters:

Email service providers and agency management systems rely on low spam rates across all of their customers in order to maintain a high level of deliverability and stay off of greylists and blacklists; therefore, they will require you to maintain a low rate. If your spam rate is too high, any legitimate email service provider or agency management system will disable your account.

How to track it:

Your email service provider or agency management system should report this rate to you and provide you with their threshold. The standard spam rate is .1% (1 spam complaint per 1,000 emails sent). You should simply be able to look in your account and find this metric.